Second Grade Lessons
by NettieC
Summary: Short response to the HBX September challenge on the theme of back to school...Davy might be in Second Grade but Harm gets the lesson.


Disclaimer: not mine

Written for the HBX September Challenge

Disclaimer: not mine

Second Grade Lessons

When David Rabb was in first grade and was a quiet and reserved child. Miss Melissa had taught Ella years earlier and had noted in an early parent / teacher meeting that the duo was chalk and cheese. Whereas Ella was bright, bubbly and outgoing, David was almost invisible. She had tried a range of different tactics to bring the boy out of his shell, all to no avail. She had given him jobs to do, paired him with others to boost his confidence, given him awards, and still the boy was subdued.

Twice during the school year she had contacted Harm and Mac to discuss things and both assured her he was active and chatty at home, and perhaps it was a settling in issue. Now, as the new academic year was upon them, Harm and Mac sat down with their two youngest children, explaining to them what school would be like now that David and Ruby would be there together. While Ruby was beyond excited to be going to school, David just sighed and nodded.

Miss Sandy was his second grade teacher and David's first few weeks showed he was still as reserved in the classroom as he ever was. Concerned about Miss Melissa's report from the year before, Harm had organised an appointment in the last hour of the school day with Miss Sandy and was seated at a way too small table in the classroom, waiting for the teacher to return from taking her charges to the Art teacher.  
>"Now, Mr Rabb," she said, as she came back in. Harm struggled to his feet, his lanky legs tangled in the small furniture. "Please sit," she said, waving him back down, Harm did so.<br>"Thank you for seeing me, Miss Sandy," he said, adjusting his legs. "I just want to check on David's progress. Last year he was a completely different child at home to school and we thought it may have been a settling in issue. I just want to make sure he's doing better this year..."

Sandy opened the boy's file and scanned some notes. "David was very reluctant about pre-school as well, wasn't he?" she observed, taping the page.  
>"Yes, ma'am," he replied, feeling much younger than his years.<br>"And yet you and your wife say he is fine at home, that he relates well to others, separates easily and plays well with his siblings," she said, scanning the notes.  
>"Yes, ma'am," he replied again. "Which is why we can't fathom his issues in class."<br>"Well, instead of guessing, why don't we ask the young man himself," Sandy said before using the internal phone system and having David sent back to the classroom. He was back within a few minutes.  
>"Daddy!" he squealed, running over and hugging Harm, it was the most animated Sandy had seen him.<br>"Sit down with your daddy, David," Sandy said, pointing to the chair next to Harm. "We've just been having a little chat about how you're doing at school." David nodded.  
>"And we're trying to work out why at home you chat and laugh and talk and at school you are so very quiet," Sandy said, in a gentle expressive manner.<br>"'Cos school is a serious business and I have to concentrate," David said quietly and Sandy looked at Harm, six-year-olds didn't normally use such language.  
>"What do you mean?" Sandy asked.<br>"Well, mommy and daddy keep saying how I have to go to school and learn and I'm trying hard but I'm not learning anything," he said sadly as he dropped his head.  
>"You're a clever boy, Davy," Harm said, gently tousling his hair. "You know so much."<br>"No, I don't," he said shaking his head. "You said when I came to school I'd be able to read books like Winnie the Pooh on my own and do big sums like Ella and it's been a whole year and I still can't do it."  
>"But you can read, David," Sandy said, "And as you get older you'll be able to read more and more. It doesn't just happen in one year."<p>

David stood up and turned and faced Harm with his hands on his hips. "You didn't tell me that part, dad!" he said exasperated. "You said I'd know it once I went to school, I thought it would happen right away."  
>"No, sweetheart," Harm said, "It takes years...sorry I didn't explain that bit."<br>"You mean I could have been having fun this whole time?" he asked, looking between his father and the teacher.  
>"Is that what has been stopping you?" Sandy asked and David nodded.<br>"Daddy says there's time for fun after you do the work and I thought I had to wait until I knew everything," he said shaking his head.

Sandy laughed and shook her head. "No, David, school is all about learning and having fun...it's not about knowing everything."  
>"Are you sure I don't need to know everything?" David checked.<br>"I'm sure," she said with a smile. "After all, if you knew everything, I wouldn't have a job."

Being at the school, he picked David and Ruby up first before collecting Ella and returning home. On school nights, dinner was early and by 5:00 Mac was coming in the front door as Harm was placing plates of tuna casserole on the table.  
>"Mommy! Mommy!" David called, running to her and wrapping his arms around her legs. "Daddy is in BIG trouble...you have to tell him off."<br>"Why?" she asked, dropping her briefcase and scooping up her son before kissing him. "What did daddy do?"  
>"Daddy told a big, big, big fib," he said opening his arms wide.<br>"Did he just?" Mac asked, kissing Ella's head, then Ruby's. "What did he say?" she stood the boy on his chair and wrapped her arms around his waist.  
>"I don't have to know everything and I can still have fun!" he said emphatically.<br>"Why don't you sit and eat your dinner, kiddo," she said, helping him sit down. "And daddy can explain it to me after dinner?"  
>"Okay," David said. "But make sure he gets time out...you're not allowed fib."<p>

With a quick hug and kiss for her husband, Mac went and changed into some sweats before coming back to have her dinner. Tuna casserole was low on her lists of likes but Harm and the kids loved it, so she didn't object. After all, he often cooked meals for her that he didn't even eat, so she couldn't complain.

Over the dishes, as the kids played in the living room, Harm explained the meeting with Miss Sandy and how David had felt he wasn't allowed to have fun at school and Mac just laughed. Trust it to be the child who barely listened at home to take so seriously comments about school.  
>"So, do you think we'll see a new side of him at school from now on?" Mac asked, dropping the dish cloth on the counter.<br>"I think so," Harm said.  
>"And what about you getting into trouble," she said with a grin. "What do you think your punishment should be?"<br>"I haven't exactly done anything wrong," Harm replied.  
>"Davy thinks you have," she reminded him.<br>"I know," he said. "He seems determined that I get punished."  
>"How about I put you over my knee and spank you," Mac said with a grin.<br>"I'd rather be spanking you," he whispered before nipping on her earlobe.  
>"I think I'd like that," she said kissing quickly. "How about we put the kids to bed early and..."<p>

Ten minutes to get Ruby changed and asleep in bed, thirty minutes for Ella, David still argued the point about Harm and so, to speed up things so they could go to bed themselves, Harm sat on the time out chair and David happily took himself to bed.  
>"Has daddy learnt his lesson about needing to be more explicit in his choice of words?" Mac asked, straddling his lap on the time out chair.<br>"Daddy has," Harm replied, leaning forward and kissing along her collarbone. "And daddy wants to practice his explicit language skills right now..."  
>"Does he just?" Mac said, melting into his touch.<p>

And in the darkness of their bedroom, Harm honed his explicit language skills and asked for exactly what he wanted, told his wife explicitly what he wanted to do to her and thanked her explicitly for everything she did to him.  
>He may not have been in second grade anymore but he'd certainly learnt a lesson in Miss Sandy's class today – Miss Sarah's class was pretty damned good too.<p> 


End file.
